News Archive

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At the end of a very busy quarter of block trades, business continues – despite the approach of Easter holidays. Tonight, UniCredit won an auction to sell 10.5% of Jenoptik, the German optical systems company, while during the day Goldman Sachs placed £164m of stock in Aviva.

Progress on global derivatives reform is at a critical juncture. The goal of enhanced transparency, identified by the Group of 20 (G20) following the 2008 crisis as crucial to the supervision of the financial system, remains only partly addressed due to a number of practical and legal barriers that limit data sharing across jurisdictions. As a result, the cross-border identification of systemic risk remains challenging for macroprudential authorities.

The spread between the weakest and strongest covered bonds is tighter than at any point in the last five years, thanks to the European Central Bank’s backstop bid. But just because the ECB is willing to buy anything and everything that qualifies as a covered bond, that doesn’t mean investors should.

The latest figures from Germany show that the richest German states paid more than ever to their poorer compatriots last year, which will trouble politicians and voters. But Germany, and Europe in general should remember that transfers of money are only one leg of the trade.

FX and macro volatility is back in a big way, so the succession of miserable quarters in fixed income, currencies and commodities should be over. But investment banks haven’t fixed long running problems with the business.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association unveiled the members of the five regional Determinations Committees that make binding decisions regarding credit events, succession events and auctions to determine the final price for credit default swaps settlement globally.

DVB Bank opened books for its second senior deal of 2015 on Tuesday, surprising some bankers with its decision to issue so soon after a controversial German draft law that could change the face of the senior market.

Tata Motors will open books on its nine-for-109 rights issue next month signing up a whopping nine banks to lead the deal. If the issue raises the targeted Rp75bn ($1.2bn) it will rank as India’s second largest ever rights issue.

Transportation infrastructure firm China Communications Construction Co (CCCC), which has a market capitalisation of HK$323.38bn ($41.71bn), plans to spin off and list its dredging arm following an internal restructuring.

Taiwan’s TPK Holding is tapping the equity capital markets to raise $286.4m from a combination of placement and a convertible bond, with the latter issuance marking Asia ex-Japan’s very first $100m-plus equity-linked product for the year.

The UK’s much maligned north-south divide extends to the mortgage market, Moody’s has shown with a report that suggests northerners are twice as likely to become “mortgage prisoners” than borrowers in other regions.

India is bracing itself for a financial overhaul as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to be stripped of its powers over government bonds in favour of a new agency. While details of the plan have yet to be finalised, this is good news for India — and for the RBI, which has been struggling with an identity crisis.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has published a discussion paper to look at ways to relax rules governing IPOs of start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as the regulator works on improving the appeal of listing on the domestic stock exchange.

Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) wrapped up a stylish return to the dollar bond market this week helped by a large order from a single investor. The high overall demand for a rare Asian telco allowed the new trade to come inside the borrower’s existing dollar curve.

Brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald has appointed three managing directors to its emerging markets DCM sales and trading team, nearly three years after they hired the team’s co-heads to start the business.

The overall credit default swap notionals and trade counts that were reported to swap data repositories last week both increased by 15% compared to the same time last year, according to data from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.

The first update of the Green Bond Principles was revealed on Friday, as the green bond market looks forward to another strong year of growth in 2015 and continues to strengthen its institutional underpinnings.

Dufry, the Swiss travel retail operator, will look to raise at least Sfr2.2bn (€2.1bn) from a rights issue funding its takeover of World Duty Free, over half of which is secured by three cornerstone investors.

The Bank of England has signed a co-operation agreement with the European Central Bank to share clearing house information and boost currency swaps lines, after the ECB lost a court case to try to force euro trades to be cleared in the eurozone.

The grim global economic scenario proposed by the Bank of England as the basis for its upcoming stress test of the nation’s banks shifts focus away from lending portfolios and towards exposures to emerging markets and the UK’s vulnerability to a strong dollar and a weak euro.

Despite Greek RMBS spreads widening to discount margins of up to 725bp as investors sweat over the country’s euro denominated future, there is better value in other products, according to JP Morgan analysts.

The Reserve Bank of India has issued a paper proposing new limits for Indian bank exposure to a single company or to a group of companies under the same parent. The move comes as the RBI is looking to bring the country’s lenders up to speed with guidelines set out by the Bank for International Settlements in April 2014.

China Construction Bank (CCB) is looking to become the first Chinese lender to tap the offshore bond market with a bank capital deal this year having sent out a request for proposal (RFP) for a tier two offering. A lot is at stake on the proposed transaction as market participants are banking on it to open the window for other bank capital trades.

Bankers worried about another round of job cuts can breathe a sigh of relief as a report from recruitment firm Morgan McKinley shows headcount is stabilising in Hong Kong investment banking. But cost remains an issue so any salary increases are likely to be modest.

The Privatisation Commission of Pakistan started roadshows for its divestment from Habib Bank on Monday, March 30, in an offering that starts at a base size of 250m shares with a possibility to sell as much as 609m shares depending on demand.

Dovish comments from the People's Bank of China (PBoC) and the inverted 1s/5s slope backed paying interest in the belly of the CNY swap curve on Monday. Meanwhile, two year swaps have outperformed on the recent improvement in liquidity conditions, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

ANZ has set itself the goal of servicing its transaction banking clients as easily in renminbi as in any other currency. And central to that effort are three new appointments it has just put in place in its transaction banking and trading units in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Swiss company Holcim has shed its entire stake in Siam City Cement to net Bt22.15bn ($679m), via a bookbuilding process that went on from the evening of March 26 (Thursday) until the weekend as key investors took their time placing their orders. In the end though 90% of the shares went to Jardine Cycle & Carriage, which was eager to get its hands on the Thai stock.

Offshore markets other than Hong Kong increased their proportion of overall RMB payments from 17% to 25% in the last two years, according to the latest RMB Tracker published by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift).

Just as China’s domestic markets have finally started to open up through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect scheme, heavily discounted H-share IPOs threaten to put a damper on the attractiveness of A-shares to international investors, writes Philippe Espinasse.

Firms with trade reporting obligations can save resources allocated to complying with reporting requirements by outsourcing their requirements to a third-party provider. This can reduce initial system building costs as well as provide better adaptive abilities in the future, according to Sapient Global Markets.

Corporate bond indigestion, overstuffed dealer inventories, a Greek showdown and new rules on bank bail-inable bonds created a perfect storm of volatility that caught some traders offside after a busy iTraxx index roll.

Standard Chartered has successfully sold its first AT1 bond though a less investor-friendly structure meant it was forced to pay up compared to a recent deal from rival HSBC. But investors were undeterred as the bond managed to attract a $22bn order book – the largest ever for a single tranche AT1 bond, say bankers.

Singaporean investment holding company Gallant Venture made its second outing in the Singapore dollar market this year, raised S$175m ($127.8m) from a three year bond offering on March 26 following a January appearance.

China has released new rules expanding its municipal bond programme and providing a debt swap quota for local governments. Observers welcome the new measures which they hope will encourage transparency over debt levels and provide local authorities with more funding flexibility.

Loans bankers are busy pitching for Sinochem Hong Kong’s refinancing. The tenor for the $500m borrowing will be determined based on lenders’ responses, said a banker who received the request for proposals from the company.

Beijing Capital Group (BCG) took the markets by storm this week with its first international bond that had investors rushing to participate. That resulted in a more than nine times covered book, which the issuer was more than happy to take advantage of by massively reducing pricing.

Emperor Capital Group is looking to raise up to HK$1.31bn ($169m) from a combination of placement and rights issue, as the brokerage seeks to shore up its money lending and asset management operations.

What syndicate bankers are describing as the “Brazil premium” means that even Brazilian borrowers unaffected directly by the scandal at state-owned energy company Petrobas remain absent from international debt capital markets.

Russian sovereign Eurobonds have rallied a lot since the end of January, dragging along many corporates with them. A number of factors are contributing to the apparent optimism, but analysts are debating how long the rally can last.

Asset managers and the funds that they manage do not present systemic risk according to a letter to the Financial Stability Oversight Council from two trade associations, and as a result, should be independently reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Greece’s euro-denominated future hangs in the balance. Greater integration and less sovereignty is needed to save the European project, but the ideological gap between Greece and Germany shows it will be nearly impossible to achieve.

Securitizations backed by eurozone assets are beginning to pepper the primary market, but bankers are struggling to escape the irony of the European Central Bank’s intervention apparently stimulating more issuance in sterling than euros.

Spain this week ended a run since the beginning of the year of eurozone periphery countries raising books of over €10bn — but sovereign debt bankers were reluctant to call time on the strong bid for the issuers.

HSBC's additional tier one bond, sold this week, included a feature that helps insulate issuers from secondary market volatility, and which bankers say is destined to become broadly used in the asset class, writes Graham Bippart.

KfW has taken a further step toward diversifying the green asset class by printing the largest ever Australian dollar green bond. But on the eve of new green bond guidelines being published on Friday, supply is still lacking, according to specialists.

A €275m loan backing the sale of E.ON's Spanish and Portuguese assets is still in the leveraged finance market, after passing an initial March 20 deadline for commitments without the book being closed.

Recent weakness in secondary markets seeped into the primary space for senior this week, with Bank of America and Commerzbank printing small trades early in the week, though a mid-week recovery allowed Credit Suisse to print a chunky dual tranche deal.

Deutsche Bank’s head of Swiss DCM, Maroan Maizar, recommended this week that the Swiss authorities ban retail investors from buying Swiss contingent convertible bonds, ensuring that only the “best” investors have access to such instruments.

With the first US rate rise in years drawing closer, it’s no surprise to see analysts and public officials singling EM out as the source of the next credit crisis. But a well-meaning warning without nuance can look a lot like scaremongering.

Marketplace lending in continental Europe, while lagging far behind the US and the UK, has taken a step forward as SME platform Lendix announced a tranche of institutional money committed to SME lending

For several years, US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen has insisted that there is a real difference between forecasts and insurance policies — between what we think will happen and the price we are willing to pay in case we're wrong. Many market participants have been unwilling or unable to accept that message.

AG Insurance, the Belgian unit of insurer Ageas, hit the market for a small subordinated print on Thursday, printing a new 32 year non-call 12 just ahead of another Ageas subsidiary closing a tender for outstanding perpetual bonds.

The additional tier one market took on another entrant on Thursday with the launch of Standard Chartered’s debut, which brought in a book size reminiscent of the halcyon days of the asset class in late 2013 and early 2014.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is meeting technology start-ups this week, in a bid to understand their many concerns about listing on domestic exchanges. With rules that appear designed to make things as difficult as possible for such firms to execute IPOs, market watchers say the regulator’s move is a big step forward in boosting the country’s equity capital markets, writes Rashmi Kumar.

Syndicate tech firm Ipreo is working with the organisation that assigns ISIN and CUSIP numbers to speed up the new issue process, as the market moves to rely more and more heavily on automated systems.

GF Securities is making a big splash in the equity capital market, opening books for its Hong Kong IPO of up to HK$27.9bn ($3.6bn) on March 23 and offering a very generous discount to where its A-shares are trading.

Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co priced Hong Kong’s biggest IPO so far this year at the top of its price range to raise HK$7.39bn ($951.67m). Buoyed by its discounted valuation, retail and institutional investors gobbled up shares in the glassmaker.

Diesel engine component maker Asimco is said to have revised terms for its $120m refinancing loan, providing banks with more security and changing the loan purpose to allow lenders to get through their credit process more easily.

China Construction Bank (CCB) and Commerzbank have launched the first Ucits complaint ETF fund under China’s RQFII scheme. The fund, which was announced on March 25, will invest in China’s money market.

South Korea’s Cowell e Holdings has raised HK$884m ($114m) by pricing its IPO just above the bottom of the price range, as concerns about a possible overhang following the listing and the company’s excessive dependence on Apple caused some price sensitivity.

The Vietnam government is aiming to sell a record amount of shares in state-owned enterprises (SOE) this year, in a bid to hasten a reform process that has dragged on since the 1990s. But sceptics doubt it will meet its targets, as its equity capital market remains bogged down by quirky IPO procedures, valuation issues and unwilling participants, writes John Loh.

It’s easy to see that Asia’s frontier markets are used to fighting for investor and development bank attention. These countries take every opportunity to showcase the value of investing in their up-and-coming economies, but sometimes the pitches are less than graceful.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is getting ready to set up the country’s first International Financial Services Centre, after approving guidelines that will govern the establishment of stock exchanges in those centres.

Astra Sedaya Finance made its debut in the dollar bond market this week, selling a $300m three year bond on Wednesday. Investors were attracted by the rarity of high grade corporate credit from Indonesia, allowing the issuer to increase the size from $250m.

Hyundai Capital Services has returned to the offshore debt market, pricing a 5.5 year dollar bond on March 23. The rarity of high quality Korean corporate credits, the name value of Hyundai, as well as a recent rating upgrade, attracted strong demand, allowing the Korean issuer to achieve its size and pricing aims.

Export-Import Bank of India (India Exim) priced a landmark transaction this week, raising $500m from the country’s first dollar-denominated green bond. With strong government support and more companies looking to issue, the green initiative is expected to blossom in India, writes Rev Hui.

JSW Steel’s $250m loan has wrapped up with several international lenders joining during general syndication. The borrowing, which had Axis Bank as sole lead, helped both the company and the Indian lender establish new coverage and relationships.

Deutsche Bank was awarded the biggest ever single quota for the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) scheme on March 26, its Rmb6bn ($966m) taking the total allocated size of the programme to Rmb330bn at 111 firms.

The overall interest rate notionals and trades counts that were reported to swap data repositories last week increased by 22% and 35%, respectively, from the same time last year, according to data from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.

Social responsibility means accountability, and accountability requires transparency. Even where socially responsible issuers show what they have funded, investors need comparisons to prove they have done some good.

Credit Suisse has drawn in a €4.5bn combined book for a dual tranche senior offering out of its operating company, which follows its foray this week into the dollar market, where it issued holding company senior debt.

Periphery eurozone sovereigns can still expect large demand in the coming months, said SSA bankers, despite a Spanish inflation linked bond this week drawing a small book compared to its peers’ deals this year.

Upgrading the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect will ultimately make its investment proposition the one to beat for investors looking to China, according to Credit Suisse bankers at a conference on March 25.

After a challenging couple of weeks that bankers have blamed on oversupply, the primary European corporate bond market has settled into a more moderate pace, but Air France KLM will test its resilience on Wednesday

In four working days, the volume of EMEA equity-linked issuance this year has quadrupled. Two unusually large deals, both into Italian blue chips — Telecom Italia and UniCredit — came on Thursday and Monday nights.

AGS Transact Technologies has filed a preliminary prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for an IPO of around Rp13.50bn ($217m), adding to the momentum already being seen in the country’s ECM market this year.

South Korea’s Cowell e Holdings has raised HK$884m ($114m) by pricing its IPO just above above the bottom of the price range, as concerns about a possible overhang following the listing and the company’s excessive dependence on Apple caused some price sensitivity.

IL&FS Transportation Networks has wrapped up its third outing to the offshore renminbi (CNH) bond market, successfully raising proceeds to repay an outstanding debt that comes up for redemption at the end of April. This time the issuer enhanced the credit support with a guarantee from its onshore parent.

Crédit Agricole priced its debut renminbi offering in Taiwan on March 20, while Yuanta Bank returned with a new two year bond a day earlier, adding two more deals to this year’s flurry of financial names tapping the Formosa market.

Colombia’s second largest telecoms company ColTel announced initial price thoughts of mid to high 8% for a perpetual non-call five hybrid bond on Tuesday, as Monday’s deal from its 30% shareholder — the Colombian government — traded up.

Puma International Financing is raising a $725m multiple tranche loan for refinancing and general corporate purposes. A diverse set of banks have formed the top level group, with lenders from Australia, the Middle East, China, Europe and South Africa in lead roles.

HSBC published on March 24 its yearly RMB internationalisation report. Among its key findings were the fact that usage of RMB dropped by a fifth, to 17% of respondents, although nearly a quarter of surveyed executives are considering using it in future.

As part of MiFID II, the European Securities and Markets Authority is soliciting comment on debt instruments with embedded derivatives. The outcome could restrict retail customers’ access to such products.

Greece’s euro-denominated future hangs in the balance. Greater integration and less sovereignty is needed to save the European project, but the ideological gap between Greece and Germany shows it will be nearly impossible to achieve.

Investors in bank senior unsecured bonds have sailed through most of the crisis believing they are safe from haircuts if the bank fails. They’ve been wrong before, and as time goes on, it should be ever more clear that they face real credit risk.

With the first US rate hike in years drawing closer, it’s no surprise to see analysts and public officials singling EM out as the source of the next credit crisis. But a well-meaning warning without nuance can look a lot like scaremongering.

US regulatory authorities said on Monday that BNP Paribas, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland had failed to provide adequate resolution plans in 2014, and must address the failures before submitting this year’s plans.

Chinese green bonds came another step closer this week with the publication of two reports that outline recommendations for the sector while taking into account the specifics of the country’s bond and green energy sector. Suggestions include a new body to review existing and upcoming green standards, the provision of tax breaks and engaging municipal bonds in green bond issuance.

GMR Holdings has secured funds from KKR Capital Markets to sign up for its entitlement in the Rp14.02bn ($227m) rights offering being conducted by GMR Infrastructure, providing a massive boost to the equity-raising.

Indonesia's central bank was right to introduce new rules on foreign debt issuance by private corporates in January. Untethered growth in foreign debt without adequate hedging is a dangerous combination, as Indonesia's currency crisis in 1998 showed.

The leads on Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co’s HK$7.39bn ($951.67m) IPO are guiding investors to the top of its HK$14.80-HK$16.80 marketing range, amid solid demand for its shares and a book that is now multiple times covered.

Paul Young has started working at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities in the US as the managing director, international head of capital markets, having quit from Citi last December following 28 years at the American bank.

JSW Energy, part of Indian conglomerate JSW Group, is preparing to hit the ECM market with a qualified institutional placement of up to Rp50bn ($802m), as the company looks to shore up capital to put to use for its growth plans.

The battle between exchanges in the US, Hong Kong and mainland China to lure technology companies to list has intensified. Now Hong Kong is once again considering allowing the dual class shareholding favoured by tech companies. But the city’s exchange should not bow too quickly to the pressure to change its one share, one vote system.

Hyundai Capital Services returned to the offshore debt market, pricing a 5.5 year dollar bond on March 23. The rarity of high quality Korean corporate credits, the name value of Hyundai as well as a recent rating upgrade attracted strong demand, allowing the Korean issuer to achieve both its size and pricing aims

Monday was a bank holiday in Colombia but so well has the market reacted to last week’s US Federal Reserve statement that the South American nation ignored a sleepy day in Bogotá to stride into markets and tap its recently issued 2045s.

The €275m loan backing the sale of E.On's Spanish and Portuguese assets is still in the leveraged finance market, after passing an initial March 20 deadline for commitments without the book being closed.

Eurozone ABS deals are beginning to hit the primary market with greater frequency, but bankers are struggling to escape the irony of the European Central Bank’s intervention stimulating more issuance in sterling than euros.

MCT Consortium will open books slightly later than expected on Wednesday for its MR594.75m ($160.66m) IPO in Malaysia. The shortened bookbuilding period is not expected deter the listing however, as demand is looking strong thanks to anchor bids from local investors and one regional property developer.

Inox Wind’s Rp10.40bn ($166m) Indian IPO has seen a stellar response from the market as investor demand takes books to 18 times covered, with pricing now widely expected to come out at the top of the range.

Clearstream, the international central securities depository of Deutsche Börse Group, is making further progress in its Asia strategy by opening offshore renminbi cash correspondent bank (CCB) accounts with Chinese banks based in Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Singapore.

Centurion Corp, which said this January that it was considering setting up a real estate investment trust (Reit) in Singapore, is now deferring the move after consultation with the city-state’s stock exchange.

Recent comments from the People's Bank of China (PBoC) have strengthened the CNY and supported the short end of the swap curve. With longer maturities pushing higher on improved risk sentiment, the curve has steepened. Meanwhile, with Canada next in line to become an offshore trading hub, CAD/CNY is to become directly tradeable, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

GF Securities is making a big splash in the ECM market, opening books for its Hong Kong IPO of up to HK$27.9bn ($3.6bn) on Monday, March 23 and offering a very generous discount to where the company’s A-shares are trading. The bargain buy has resonated well with the market, with cornerstone investors having signed up for more than half of the entire trade.

Asiamoney announces the winners of its latest annual Asia Islamic bank awards, after a year in which the industry continued to develop in size and scope. The awards are listed below, and full write-ups of each decision will be published online and in print at the end of April.

Taiwanese investment holding company Kofu International has launched a $500m dual tranche financing into general syndication. The loan is offering lenders plenty of security, including a pledge to the shares of one of the borrower’s subsidiaries.

HSBC reigns supreme for the fourth year running as the best overall provider of offshore RMB products and services, in Asiamoney’s largest and most competitive Offshore Renminbi (RMB) Poll. The UK-headquartered bank tops the poll as voted by clients from around the world.

As regulators begin imposing penalties for compliance transgressions in swaps markets, firms must build out their operational and reconciliation frameworks, as well as tracking the source of errors and adjusting to new problems dynamically, according to market officials.

Even though volatility risks in euro/dollar options are as high as before the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, medium term gains based on the currencies reaching parity and a strengthening dollar make buying calls with a focus on upside euro convexity a viable trade, according to strategists.

Obrascón Huarte Lain, the Spanish construction company, has managed to achieve savings of 325bp while making banks on the deal bridge the gap between the offer price and what investors have paid to them.

Bank of China (BoC) has created an index to track the spread between onshore and offshore RMB bonds. The bank hopes that the new BoC Credits Investing & Financing Environment Difference Index (CIFED) will provide corporates and financial institutions with a valuable metric to help decision making.

Mizuho Bank printed its first dollar issue of the year on Thursday, printing a multi-tranche offering that consisted of the same structure and size of its last outing in September. The Japanese lender took advantage of the cautious market sentiment following Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting this week to effortlessly bag $2.5bn.

Malaysia Airports Holdings has received a very positive response from shareholders for its MR1.32bn ($396m) rights offering, with investors piling in for far more shares than were available as part of the one-for-five issuance.

Emerging markets sovereigns saw US Treasury yields at their lowest in nearly two months at Wednesday’s close and rushed to announce deals on Thursday morning. Peru and Ecuador ensured that Latin America was no exception, but results were mixed.

Investors complaining about a lack of corporate new issues from Latin America so far this year have plenty of credit work for the next few days as two companies aim to launch deals with unusual structures.

The US Federal Reserve this week said it may raise its benchmark rate for the first time in nearly seven years — holders of dollar callable medium term notes may rue the day they took on the paper. But issuers should still look after them.

At its March meeting, the US Federal Reserve began winding down its policy of extreme transparency and forward guidance, pushing market participants to rely now on economic data instead of qualitative nudges from the central bank.

One investor was seen buying a sizeable number of put options on the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish exchange-traded fund this week, indicating that they are seeking to mitigate exposure to the US dollar if its performance slows down or weakens, according to strategists.

Covered bonds saw a week of two halves, characterised by profit taking and weakness to begin with which was followed by a more stable tone over the rest of the week. And, with offers likely to dry up before long, the first zero coupon new issue covered bond could be seen in a few weeks.

Corporate hybrid capital bonds have been a big beneficiary of this year's credit bull run in Europe, powered by quantitative easing, writes Richard Metcalf. But they have not lost their power to cause controversy and upsets.

A trio of issuers got dollar deals away on Tuesday ahead of a Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday when the US Federal Reserve dropped “patience” from its language on rate rises, causing US Treasury yields to drop.

The UK government wants to leverage surging demand for exposure to the country to offload some £13bn of mortgages it acquired from Northern Rock after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, writes Tom Porter.

The answer to one of the biggest questions in banking in the post-crisis era of regulation may be taking shape in Europe. A new law in Germany will have frightening consequences for senior unsecured buyers if passed.

Telecom Italia has launched a €1.5bn to €2bn convertible bond with a 70% premium this evening, which market participants said appeared designed to raise cheap funding, without taking the risk of the bond actually converting to equity.

While most bankers in London this week were probably celebrating St Patrick’s day on Tuesday, or at least wishing they could be, one fellow from the MTN world had his eye firmly focused on the southern hemisphere.

Demand for callable MTNs from sovereign, supranational and agency issuers has skyrocketed in 2015 but, when short term rates start rising in the US, investors could be left holding expensive paper. While many issuers will come to the rescue and buy back on demand, some buyers will have to live with their investment.

Scepticism over the European Central Bank’s ability to stimulate meaningful eurozone ABS issuance is alive and well, but there have been further signs this week that increased risk appetite is broadening the scope of supply hitting the primary market.

Covered bonds and RMBS share important similarities, as both the European Central Bank and Bank of England acknowledged last year in a discussion paper. As the two asset classes evolve, the vastly different regulatory regimes applied to each should become more difficult to justify.

Norway’s DNB did not inspire on its additional tier one debut on Thursday, failing to attract the same level of interest Swedish peers achieved in recent weeks, with bankers on and away from the deal blaming a weaker market backdrop.

The hot demand in Europe's credit markets has already brought a stream of US investment grade borrowers to issue in euros. This week, four US high yield issuers rated single-B joined the caravan, writes Victor Jimenez.

US buysiders are struggling to access overseas liquidity as many dealers do not want to trade with US clients due to regulations, such as Dodd-Frank, resulting in increased fragmentation and smaller liquidity pools.

Telecom Italia has launched a €1.5bn-€2bn convertible bond this evening, which market participants said appeared designed to raise cheap funding, without taking the risk of the bond actually converting to equity.

BPCE made its debut in the offshore renminbi market on Wednesday, pricing a 10 year non call five tier two bond. The French lender joined a series of non-Chinese banks that have tapped the dim sum bond market to beef up their Basel III tier two capital buffers.

Belgian insurer Ethias, whose existing €250m subordinated bonds have plunged in price since February on news that the firm needs fresh capital to deal with its financial woes, is considering the sale of up to €500m in new perpetual subordinated debt.

Goldman Sachs placed HK$5.43bn ($700m) worth of borrowed stock in China Pacific Insurance Group Co (CPIC) on March 18, the public leg of a derivative agreement with Allianz through which the German insurer hedged part of its stake in the Chinese firm.

Two pharmaceutical companies are preparing to list their shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with PuraPharm Corp and Zhongzhi Pharmaceutical Holdings filing their respective preliminary prospectuses on March 18.

Thailand has worked hard to make itself more attractive to foreign bond issuers in recent years. But as the deadline nears for the next round of issuer approvals, an unfavourable cross currency swap is set to limit deals from developed market credits, writes Christina Khouri. More promising opportunities will come from southeast Asian neighbours.

Nervousness ahead of this week's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting stymied any deals in the Asia ex-Japan dollar bond market. But though the Federal Reserve’s surprisingly dovish signal suggested that issuance would pick up soon, high yield credits could struggle to return, writes Rev Hui.

At least three Chinese brokerages are readying Hong Kong IPOs for the first half of the year, while two more will launch chunky H-share placements soon. The trades should be well received as investors have cash to spare, but the yawning gap in valuations between A and H-shares and a surfeit of offerings from the sector mean that issuers and underwriters will need to relent on pricing, writes John Loh.

India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) has made a quick return to the syndicated loan market, issuing a fresh request for proposals for a facility of $500m just two months after it mandated a Japanese bank for a fundraising of $100m.

Asian local currency bond markets have performed well since the start of the year, but the appreciation of the US dollar and the anticipated US interest rate hike could increase risks, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Korea Deposit Insurance Corp (KDIC) shed some of its shares in Hanwha Life Insurance Co via a block executed on the evening of March 18. Launched to the market with a fixed price, the W133.4bn ($118m) deal focused more on size than on price.

BPCE made its debut in the offshore renminbi (CNH) market on March 18, pricing a 10 year non call five trade. The transaction meant the French lender joined a series of non-Chinese banks that have tapped the dim sum bond market to beef up their Basel III tier two capital buffer.

Haitong International Securities Group is gunning for a capital raising of up to HK$9.10bn ($1.17bn) via a one-for-one rights issue, with 65% shareholder, Haitong International Holdings Limited (HTIH), committing to take up its entire rights entitlement to provide early momentum for the trade.

Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group has received the go-ahead from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to issue new H-shares, which could raise HK$2.13bn ($274.30m) based on its current share price.

US buysiders are struggling to access overseas liquidity as many dealers do not want to trade with US clients due to regulations such as Dodd-Frank, resulting in increased fragmentation and smaller liquidity pools.

Belgian insurer Ethias, whose existing €250m subordinated bonds have plunged in price since February on news that the firm requires fresh capital to deal with its financial woes, is considering the sale of as much as €500m in new perpetual subordinated debt.

Moody’s announced on Tuesday that it will be re-evaluating more than 1,000 of the credit ratings it assigns to financial institutions, following its introduction of a new methodology for assessing banks.

Scepticism over the European Central Bank’s ability to stimulate meaningful Eurozone ABS issuance is alive and well, but there have been further signs this week that increased risk appetite is broadening the scope of supply hitting the primary market.

Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co saw investors pile into its HK$7.39bn ($951.67m) IPO as books opened on Wednesday March 18, with demand from cornerstones and anchor investors alone already taking the trade into oversubscription.

Inox Wind has opened books for its Rp10.40bn ($166m) Indian IPO, with a large number of anchor orders already in the deal. The first sizeable listing from the country this year, the trade is set to heat up India's ECM market as investors vie for renewable energy names.

India’s Adlabs Entertainment has finally wrapped up its extended IPO, raising Rp3.70bn ($59m) by pricing its shares at the bottom of the revised range. Concerns over an expensive valuation, combined with a volatile period for Asian markets during bookbuilding meant investors were quick to lose their appetite for the company’s stock.

The development of free trade zones is picking up pace with the Guangdong pilot area expected to open for business as early as March 18 and at least two more to follow soon. The launches come as new measures regulating offshore funding for entities in the Shanghai FTZ are being tested out.

Mexican cement company Cemex told investors on Tuesday that it would continue to look for opportunities to reduce its debt and cut its interest rate burden as it attempts to get closer to an investment grade rating.

India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) has made a quick return to the syndicated loan market, issuing a fresh request for proposals for a facility of $500m, just two months since it mandated a Japanese bank for a fundraising of $100m.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has identified five banks it considers to be systemically important to the city’s financial markets. As a result of their new status, these banks will be subject to more onerous capital requirements from 2016.

Malaysia’s Sumatec Resources is planning to raise as much as MR1.1bn ($298m) from a rights offering to fund its acquisition of Borneo Energy that was first announced last July, after having made changes to the offering’s structure following a reduction in the purchase price of the acquired entity.

Singaporean lifestyle real estate company Rowsley has closed books on a three year non call one S$100m ($72m) bond issue, which the company will use for its development plans in Yangon, Myanmar, according to a banker close to the deal.

France’s BPCE has begun taking orders for its Basel III complaint tier two debt in the offshore renminbi (CNH) market, opening books to what looks to be its debut dim sum bond on Wednesday. If it goes ahead with its plan, it will be the fifth non-Chinese bank to tap the CNH market to boost its Basel III tier two capital buffers.

Shanghai Electric Group is planning to follow up its successful from last August with another outing in the international bond market this year. But instead of returning to dollars, the state owned enterprise (SOE) is now eyeing up euros.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has set an initial timetable for the launch of China’s Cross-border Inter-bank Payment System (CIPS), according two sources close to the matter. GlobalRMB understands seven international banks — ANZ, BNP Paribas, Citi, DBS, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered — are among the 19 firms selected for first stage testing.

Investors were buying puts and put spreads on real estate investment trusts ahead of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee announcement on Wednesday (March 18), as such sectors are sensitive to interest rates so are prime targets for options hedging.

The decision to add 25 constituents to the iTraxx Crossover in September was a mistake, as it hasn’t increased the trading volume of single name credit default swaps as expected, according to market makers.

New York fund Blue Elephant Capital Management has managed to price an unrated $71m securitization of consumer loans originated through Prosper close to where BlackRock printed its rated deal in February.

Covered bonds and RMBS share important similarities which both the European Central Bank and Bank of England acknowledged last year in a discussion paper. As the two asset classes evolve, their vastly different regulatory treatment should become more difficult to justify.

A €500m ($579m) seven year loan by Malaysia Airports Holdings has seen a stellar response, allowing a pricing cut even after launch of general syndication. The strong support in the retail phase, despite the price cut, shows that for the right credit and structure, Asian lenders are ready to take flexibility.

A trio of issuers got dollar deals away on Tuesday ahead of a Federal Open Market Committee meeting wraps up on Wednesday where the US Federal Reserve is expect to drop more hints about the timing of potential rate rises.

Moscow Exchange is now trading futures contracts on the onshore Chinese renminbi against the Russian rouble after a substantial increase in renminbi turnover on the exchange and growing volume of settlement in the currency between Russia and China, in addition to new demand for hedging of such transactions.

Local and regional governments in Asia rarely look to the capital markets to meet their funding needs, but a strong appetite for funding, developing government structures and infrastructure needs indicate that the region’s municipalities are likely to increase their willingness to borrow.

The Privatisation Commission of Pakistan has kicked off the pre-marketing process of a divestment from Habib Bank, in a deal which could add Prp124.1bn ($1.2bn) to the government’s coffers based on the company’s market capitalisation.

Asian local currency bond markets have perform well since the start of the year, but the appreciation of the US dollar and the anticipated US interest rate hike could increase risks for the region’s local currency markets, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The flurry of international financial names tapping the Formosa market is showing no signs of letting up. Crédit Agricole and Lloyds Bank are marketing their debut renminbi offerings in Taiwan, two sources close to the deals have told GlobalRMB.

HKBN’s lacklustre debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has shown up the city's tough ECM environment. But it would have been worse without some help behind the scenes from banks on the deal. Syndicates are going to have to get used to going the extra mile to help issuers in the aftermarket.

Malakoff, the power arm of MMC Corp, is on track to raise a chunky MR2.74bn ($740.14m) via an IPO in Malaysia, making it the country’s largest listing in nearly two years following a dry spell in 2014.

CNY swaps were subject to better receiving interest on Tuesday. An open market operation by the People's Bank of China (PBoC) has backed short-end offers, while economic optimism is said to be behind receiving in five years, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

Bank of China Aviation is planning to meet with investors over a potential dollar-denominated offering starting on March 18. But unlike all its previous outings, the aircraft leasing company is choosing a different route as it sets its sight on a 144A trade.

JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) has launched a share class hedged to the renminbi for its Japan (Yen) Fund, which aims to provide long-term capital growth through investment primarily in Japanese securities and other securities whose performance is linked to the Japanese economy, the company said on March 16.

Weekend comments by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang have backed expectations for further easing by the People's Bank of China (PBoC). Long CNY swaps were well bid on Monday on the expected positive economic impact and the resultant bear-steepening move is expected to continue, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

The rapid slide in the euro against the dollar has made buying shortdated puts an increasingly popular but expensive trade. As a result, investors are seeking to capitalise on further euro downside with more exotic trades on the back of higher volatilities.

Australia and New Zealand Bank is making a rare foray into the Singapore dollar market, opening books to what is only its second ever outing in that currency on March 16. But unlike its straight bond from five years ago, ANZ is opting for something different as it seeks to bolster its coffers with a Basel III tier two offering.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, the Canadian drugs company, sold the largest syndicated high yield bond in the healthcare sector on record, according to Dealogic, and also the largest Canadian syndicated high yield bond on record across all sectors.

State Bank of India has fallen victim to the recent global volatility that has hit stock markets across the world, with the lender now postponing its $2.5bn share sale for after the US Federal Reserve holds its policy meeting.

Hutchison Port Holdings Trust tapped the international bond market for the first time on March 12, raising $1bn from a dual tranche offering. But though lots of attention was stolen by a competing credit, the subsequent trading performances of both transactions showed Hutchison has few equals in terms of capital market savviness.

It’s been three months since China officially launched its renminbi-denominated qualified domestic institutional investor (RQDII) scheme. Expectations had seemed high, but activity has been muted. For this year at least, RQDII looks set to be a mere dessert for China’s domestic investors rather than any main course.

Punjab National Bank held meetings this week with potential bookrunners to lead a capital raising exercise, as one of India’s largest lenders prepares to raise around Rp50bn ($800m) from the equity capital markets.

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei) returned to Taiwan’s Formosa bond market on March 12 with an Rmb800m ($127.5m) three year offering priced at 4.75%. The trade was the development bank's second Formosa, and it remains the only Latin American issuer.

Yuanta Bank has added one more deal to this year’s red hot Formosa bond market by pricing a three year at 4.60% on March 12, two bankers close to the deal have told GlobalRMB. The final size was Rmb250m ($40m) and the issuer is considering another visit, depending on market conditions, said one of the bankers.

CIMB Bank, which has been at the heart of a sweeping reorganisation of its workforce over the past few weeks, has now rejigged its senior leadership team in Indonesia with the hire of a new president director.

A torrid start to the week for secondary bond markets in Latin America did not stop pan-emerging markets telecoms and media group Millicom from fetching a well oversubscribed $500m 10 year non-call five note on Tuesday, as investors saw a rich concession for a name in most EM corporate bond portfolios already.

Asian Development Bank has made its first foray into the green bond format, joining a small group of issuers at the long end of the market. The debut attracted a strong bid from real money investors, parched for high quality green debt.

The stars aligned in the offshore renminbi market this week as moves in the cross currency basis swap with dollars drove a burst of demand in the medium term note format, with banks on the receiving end happy to print.

After an age in the making as bankers pleaded for it, the European Central Bank unleashed quantitative easing programme. But the verdict so far has not been unanimously positive. Craig McGlashan and Tessa Wilkie report.

Issuers across the credit spectrum were seen in covered bonds this week with Münchener Hypothekenbank pricing the tightest 10-year deal ever while Bankia priced a 10 year with one of the widest spreads seen this year.

Mediobanca will be the next periphery issuer to step out of a post-crisis pattern of privately sold and retained transactions, as tightened spreads and the ECB’s presence give lenders more confidence in primary market demand.

Zimmer Holdings and JM Schmucker picked up the M&A financing baton from Actavis to lead an avalanche of new issuance as borrowers ploughed through softer markets, printing trades ahead of a crunch meeting of the Federal Reserve.

Two block trades of around $1bn went well on Thursday night, as GlaxoSmithKline sold half its remaining 12.4% stake in Johannesburg-listed Aspen Pharmacare, while private equity funds shed the last chunk of ISS, the Danish cleaning firm.

Aareal Bank this week became the second German issuer this year to price a US dollar denominated Reg S Pfandbrief. It follows the lead of LBBW which priced a similar deal two weeks ago. Though the actual funding converted back to euros will have been nominally higher than what it could have achieved in euros, savings will have been made on swaps costs.

Default fund contributions by central counterparties, known as skin in the game, are not the only risk management mechanisms for clearing house operations and resolution systems, and they do not compensate for other risk mitigation strategies, said market officials.

Coventry Building Society became the first UK issuer to spurn the conventional three year sterling floating rate covered bond sector, and following its recent roadshow, sold a five year floating rate sterling benchmark covered bond on Tuesday.

Two block trades have gone well tonight, as GlaxoSmithKline has sold half its 12.4% stake in Johannesburg-listed Aspen Pharmacare, while private equity funds have sold the last chunk of ISS, the Danish cleaning firm.

European ABS is now the very definition of an issuer’s market, according to some ABS bankers, who watched investors snap up nearly €2bn of Obvion RMBS on Thursday despite the lender pricing five year notes where it was pricing two years barely six months ago.

Irish bank Permanent TSB intends to raise €525m of capital from investors in the first stage of its return to private ownership, and its first equity deal since failing last year’s European stress tests.

This week, the Futures Industry Association held its 40th Annual Boca conference in Boca Raton, Florida where senior buysiders, sellsiders, exchanges, clearing houses, lawyers and other market officials met to dicuss the trading and regulatory landscape in the derivatives markets. The GlobalCapital team reported from the event, covering all the hot topics such as regional fragmentation, central counterparty equivalence, cross-border regulation, trading and execution requirements, and more.

The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (Socar) printed a twice subscribed $750m bond on Wednesday, becoming the first oil company from CEEMEA to access the bond since the dramatic fall in the oil price since the end of last year.

Nordic Investment Bank priced a $1.25bn three year just shy of a double-digit spread through mid-swaps on Thursday — the latest in a round of tightly priced dollar deals this week in the short end of the curve.

Rabobank’s chief financial officer — the most powerful executive at the bank, according to one insider — is to step down early, at the end of 2015, after the bank decided he could no longer be chief risk officer, writes Jon Hay.

Swaps regulation needs to be overhauled in the US in order to stop trading flow moving away from trading centres in New York and elsewhere in the US to overseas markets, according to Christopher Giancarlo, Commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. GlobalCapital was granted an exclusive interview with Commissioner Giancarlo, to discuss how these flows can be reversed via regulatory harmonisation and global co-operation.

At IMN’s London CLO conference on Monday, GlobalCapital presented 3i and Credit Suisse with the Euro CLO of the Year 2014 Award for 3i’s Harvest IX CLO. The deal received the most votes from market participants out of a shortlist of five.

South Korea has taken a big step towards opening up its equity capital markets, tweaking its listing guidelines to woo domestic and international issuers to its exchange. Bankers are lauding the changes, but the fact that the stock market has also added financial criteria could present an obstacle to growth, writes Rashmi Kumar.

DBS is on course to become the first covered bond issuer from Singapore, having proposed a unique structure that will overcome the sticky issue of who has first claim on the asset pool. An agreement is close to being struck and the Singaporean lender is looking then to issue a benchmark size offering in either dollars or euros, writes Rev Hui.

Inox Wind is set to launch its Rp10.40bn ($168.39m) IPO on March 18, in what looks to be India’s largest listing in nearly two years. The deal is already generating a lot of buzz given the company's credentials as a unit of the Inox Group and for being a rare issuer in the renewable energy sector.

Malaysia’s state owned oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) broke records this week when it priced the largest G3 bond from a southeast Asian corporate. Choosing aggressive pricing over a bigger size, the issuer opted to settle for raising $5bn with the four tranche deal, lower than the expected size of $6bn-$7bn, writes Narae Kim.

Asia's equity capital market bankers are feeling the heat as they tackle the impact that a prolonged period of dollar strength could have on primary dealflow. Stock markets across the region continued to sell off this week as the dollar reached levels not seen against some peers for more than a decade, but the weakness could also benefit firms with high quality earnings as investors become more discerning.

The leads on Adlabs Entertainment’s Indian IPO have slashed the deal’s price range and extended the bookbuilding period by five more days, with the new terms expected to raise the company not more than Rp3.94bn ($63m) — down from its previous target of Rp4.7bn.

As Pakistan gets closer to launching its first ever real estate investment trust (Reit), another company has submitted an application to set up its own property trust, encouraged by the demand for yield investments in the country.

Shanghai-listed Fuyao Glass started premarketing its $900m IPO in Hong Kong on Tuesday, March 10, with bankers touting its size and scale as one of the world’s largest manufacturers of automotive glass.

Investors had taken the order book for Obvion’s single tranche Dutch RMBS to well over €2bn on Thursday, despite the lender pricing five year notes where it was pricing two years barely six months ago.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly priorities can change. Just weeks ago, at my regular watering hole, I could spot none of my chums. Doubtless they were too busy pretending to be the best employee ahead of bonus season. That was never going to last long of course and I can now vouch that all is right once again in the banking world.

Asia syndicated loans volumes are on track for their weakest three months since the final quarter of 2008, which followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers. But this time it is the abundant liquidity of banks that is causing the problem. Lenders are abandoning syndications in favour of bilaterals as top rated borrowers call the shots, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

Hutchison Port, Central American Bank for Economic Integration and ICBCIL opened books for their respective bonds on Thursday, March 12, in what is looking to be a busy end of the week for the Asian debt capital markets.

The derivatives markets have undergone the biggest regulatory overhaul in history since the global financial crisis. But buysiders are failing to see any benefits to their trading operations apart from increased costs, according to speakers at the 40th Annual Futures Industry Association Boca Conference in Boca Raton, Florida.

Logistics and supply chain company CWT has raised S$100m ($72.4m) from a five year offering. The issuer comes at a time when Singapore dollar issuance is starting to pick after the Chinese New Year break.

Panama sold $1.25bn of 10 year notes on Wednesday at a tighter new issue premium than other recent sovereign issues from Latin America had managed as LatAm markets enjoyed a better day after a torrid start to the week.

The starting gun has been fired for the long-awaited quasi-IPO of Finansbank. The National Bank of Greece, which owns almost all the Turkish bank, will sell some of its shares, though the $1bn deal will consist mainly of new capital.

Nordic Investment Bank on Wednesday hired four banks to run a three year dollar syndication, as Canada was wrapping up a three year that attracted strong demand despite coming at a single digit spread to US Treasuries.

Rabobank and Société Générale have guided investors to high 20bp area for Obvion’s single five year tranche of Dutch RMBS in Storm 2015-1, the latest benchmark for a market entering new territory at the tight end.

Central bank domination of financial markets entered another level this week with the commencement of full QE in Europe. There is little to suggest the spread compression it has caused across asset classes will continue.

Five months after South Korea saw its first locally issued and listed renminbi-denominated bond, HNA Group (International) Company (HNA International) has become the first corporate issuer in that market.

Investors are seeing good value in the long dated tranches of a landmark $7bn four tranche bond and sukuk deal from Malaysia’s state oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional (Petronas), which opened books on Wednesday morning. If the issuer gets the trade away at its target size, the deal will be the second largest in dollars from Asia ex Japan.

Pan-emerging markets telecoms and media group Millicom sold a $500m 10 year non-call five note on Tuesday, tightening pricing by 25bp from initial price thoughts despite another day of torrid secondary markets in Latin America.

KfW, the German state development bank, returned to the offshore renminbi (CNH) market on Tuesday. Investors jumped in, enticed by the strong credit, allowing the borrower to increase the size of the deal.

Pengai Hospital Management Corp is targeting a Hong Kong IPO of $100m-$200m by the first half of this year, with the company refiling and updating its preliminary prospectus with the city’s stock market regulator.

If more banks are forced out of the clearing business as a result of the stringent leverage ratio rules under Basel III, then the remaining futures commissions merchants will not have the capacity to take on their clients, according to speakers at the 40th Annual Futures Industry Association Boca Conference in Boca on Tuesday.

Inox Wind is set to launch its Rp10.40bn ($168.39m) IPO on March 18, in what looks to be India’s largest listing in nearly two years. The deal is already generating lots of buzz given its credentials as a unit of the Inox Group and for being a rare issuer in the renewable energy sector.

Shimao Property Holdings has returned to the dollar market with a $300m tap of its $800m 2022s. As with the original deal, the new trade saw a huge order book and the issuer ended up giving what bankers agreed was the lowest new issue concession from a Chinese property developer in 2015.

Xinyi Solar raised HK$1.15bn ($148m) from a top-up subscription of shares on the night of Tuesday, March 10, with weak markets at the time of execution causing investors to be highly price sensitive. But thanks to the momentum provided by the company’s positive results one week ago and a hefty discount, the trade pulled through.

One of the greatest advantages of clearing for buyside participants is that they do not have to invest in derivatives documentation such as International Swaps and Derivatives Association master agreements and credit support annexes which are costly and time consuming for market participants, according to speakers as the 40th Annual Futures Industry Association Boca Conference in Boca on Tuesday.

Malaysia’s state oil company Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) has started taking orders for a four tranche dollar deal split between a five year sukuk alongside seven, 10 and 30 year conventional bonds. An investor said he was expecting a total size of $6bn-$7bn, making the deal potentially the second biggest G3 bond in Asia ex Japan after Alibaba's $8bn deal last year.

Market orthodoxy is that UBS made an astute move by cutting back its investment bank in 2012, and that Credit Suisse’s hiring of Tidjane Thiam is a prelude to it doing the same. But how true is that – and should Thiam sharpen his axe?

Market participants have welcomed reported indications by Yi Gang of the People's Bank of China (PBoC) that China’s Cross-border Inter-bank Payment System (CIPS) is set to be launched this year. They see it as a key step to facilitating RMB usage in global payments and making RMB clearing more market-driven.

The Indian budget has made a few big changes to the way real estate and infrastructure trusts will be taxed. This is positive, but the government has still failed to tackle some points that are critical to kickstart the market. If the country is serious about becoming a Reit hub, it needs to be not just clearer, but bolder.

Auto Trader looks increasingly likely to achieve its desired valuation of £2.5bn, as the online new and second hand car website's London listing got covered throughout the range on the first day of bookbuild.

This year has thrown quite a few challenges the way of syndicated loans bankers, with commodity price volatility and macroeconomic uncertainty in China among the factors seen denting deal volumes in Asia ex-Japan. But bankers should not despair. Despite the depressing data, there is reason to be hopeful about the prospects for the rest of 2015.

Indian company JSW Steel, which hit the syndicated loan market in November 2014 for a $250m five year bullet, has attracted commitments from four lenders in general syndication. One more bank is due to come on board soon.

The Singapore Exchange will add new FX futures contracts on the Taiwanese dollar, offshore and onshore renminbi crosses aiming to encourage trading on electronic trading platforms and exchanges in line with global G20 reforms for the over-the-counter derivatives markets.

Average CNH bond yields have risen almost 60bp over the last three months and the renminbi has depreciated against the dollar by 2% over the same period. But HSBC analysts say in their latest report tracking the market that a meaningful recovery in dim sum bonds will only happen once the currency has finally hit its short term trough.

Barbara Rippa has joined BNP Paribas to work on their northern European corporate DCM desk in London. She started in February, having previously worked on Itaú BBA’s emerging market debt syndicate desk for two years.

UBS has appointed Karen Chen to head its wealth management and interbank business arm in China. The Swiss bank has given her the role of president of UBS (China) Ltd after getting the approval of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

Overall interest rate derivatives trading that was reported to swap data repositories last week increased by 14% from the previous week, according to data from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.

Just one month on from pricing the year’s first bond from a Chinese developer, Shimao Property Holdings has returned to tap its 2022s for up to $300m, encouraged by the bonds strong secondary market trading.

India’s Adlabs Entertainment has opened books for its Rp4.7bn ($75m) domestic IPO, with sentiment positive thanks to five anchor investors that have already signed up for a small portion of the shares on sale. But although investors like the consumer story offered by the theme park operator, the small deal size and the low liquidity means it will not appeal to everyone, say bankers.

One institutional investor sold a large volume of puts on the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond exchange-traded fund (HYG) Monday on the back of rising implied volatilities caused by prospective Federal Reserve rate hikes.

The international bond market is full of colourful appellations, from Bulldog bonds to Samurais, Dim Sum to Maples – surely the market for US issuers' euro bonds deserves better than the title “reverse Yankee”?

South Korea has taken big steps to open up its equity capital markets, tweaking its listing guidelines to woo domestic and international issuers to list on its exchange. Bankers are lauding the changes, but the fact that the stock market has also added numerical criteria could pose an obstacle to growth.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to extend formal recognition of covered central counterparties based in Singapore under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation.

South Korea’s NS Shopping has opened books for its W206.4bn ($185m) domestic listing, after receiving the regulator’s go-ahead for the IPO in February. Institutional bookbuilding is scheduled for just two days, with bankers counting on the company’s solid credentials in its sector and its reasonable valuation to help generate demand.

Thai mall operator Platinum Group has priced its IPO close to the top of guidance to raise Bt5.18bn ($160m), buoyed by interest from local and foreign investors even though the trade was a domestic-only offering.

Global commodity company Ecom Agroindustrial Corp has returned to the Asian syndicated loans market for a $300m 364 day revolver. The deal is being led by three banks, which opened it into general on February 26.

State Bank of India (SBI) is slated to launch a share sale in the week of March 16 that will raise between $2.0bn-$2.5bn, making it the largest ECM transaction to come out of the country since Coal India’s Rp226.13bn ($3.7bn) block deal.

Gazprombank, the third largest bank in Russia by assets, is considering issuing a Panda bond, GlobalRMB understands. It would be the first ever Panda bond from a financial institution if it were to emerge, but continuing sanctions against Russia could cause difficulties.

Bankers working on the Indonesian IPO of Mitra Keluarga Karyasehat are guiding investors to the middle of the price range offered during bookbuilding, at which level the hospital operator would raise Rph4.26tr ($327.2m).

As Pakistan gets closer to launching its first ever real estate investment trust (Reit), another company has submitted an application to set up a own property trust, encouraged by the demand for yield investments in the country.

Lodha Developers has made its long awaited debut in the international bond market, raising $200m through a five year non-call three dollar trade on Thursday, March 5. However, not only did the Reg S deal struggle to maintain momentum during bookbuilding despite offering the highest coupon from an Indian corporate, but it also had a tough time in secondary markets.

China's National People’s Congress (NPC) meeting finished on Friday, at the end of a week that saw premier Li Keqiang scale back GDP growth targets, annonunce a plan to trial a Shenzhen Stock Connect link and expand the use of free trade zones.

Food and beverage company Del Monte Pacific has successfully wrapped up its S$208.60m ($156m) rights offering, after strong support from some of its biggest shareholders led to the trade being oversubscribed.

In this round-up, Singapore RMB deposits reach a new record while Hong Kong RMB deposits are slightly down in January, Suriname is to launch RMB trade settlement, Bank of Korea gives tax incentives to won-RMB direct trading, and ICBC launches RMB settlement for commodities.

Shareholders in OW Bunker are investigating expanding evidence surrounding the Danish oil bunkering firm’s ill-fated IPO, with a view to suing the firm’s private equity seller, Altor, and the firms that worked on the listing, including its global co-ordinators Morgan Stanley and Carnegie. Olivier Holmey reports.

This year’s flurry of Japanese convertible issuance continued this week with four new bonds sold outside Japan. Three were small, ¥4bn ($33m) each. The fourth, in dollars, was unusual in being a bank subordinated issue.

With euro borrowing costs at historic lows, corporate borrowers are not just loading up on duration, but pulling off eye catching short dated trades attracting rates buyers too, writes Richard Metcalf.

NewDay Cards was able to place two more tranches of credit card ABS with investors on Wednesday than on its last outing, with its lead managers applying softer price guidance to the bottom of the stack.

Cembra Money Bank printed the first Swiss ABS since the Swiss National Bank abandoned its franc-euro peg this week, having increased the revolving period for its third securitization of auto lease receivables.

Capital market illiquidity is becoming an ever more important issue for European ABS issuers, with an inverted Dutch RMBS curve pushing Obvion to abandon the typical two and five year structure for its latest Storm deal.

Long a staple of European leveraged buyouts, lists determined by sponsors of institutions that are either allowed or prohibited from buying loans in the secondary markets are drawing the ire of investors.

This week has been one of the busiest weeks ever for equity block trades in EMEA. Three more trades were launched on Thursday evening, as banks battle for market share and – sometimes elusive – profits.

The way to manage bond trading today is to manage the flow of information and make sure you only connect people who really want to trade, just like internet dating, participants at Afme’s European Market Liquidity Conference were told.

Dutch issuer Van Lanschot Bankiers has become the third issuer to set up a conditional pass through (CPT) mortgage covered bond programme, joining NIBC Bank and UniCredit. Pending successful registration with the Dutch central bank, a deal should be coming soon.

Euromoney’s fifth High Yield Bond Conference on Wednesday provided high yield market participants with a rare head-on debate between a private equity executive and a high yield investor. There was a meeting of minds, but few concessions.

When it comes to how banks finance their activities, there is little doubt we are in a new era. If anyone did question that the climate has changed, then a little known Austrian institution may have caused them to think again this week.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Reserve Bank of Australia which will allow the RBA access to derivatives data held in European trade repositories as required under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation.

The European Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday that euro-denominated securities transactions can be cleared outside the eurozone, a victory for the UK, which brought the case against the European Central Bank.

Société Générale’s third Red & Black German auto ABS closed its differential to Volkswagen’s Driver programme this week, as investors continue to take on core European triple-A paper at ever tightening spreads.

Books for Thai company Platinum Group’s Bt5.25bn ($162.22m) IPO are fully covered across the range provided during bookbuilding, with investors showing no sensitivity to pricing despite a likely wait for any boost in earnings.

Departures from the Singapore office of Goldman Sachs since the start of this year do not reflect a big change of strategy towards the region, according to Matthew Westerman, head of the firm’s investment bank in Asia Pacific ex-Japan. But they have nonetheless come at a time when market activity in some areas has fallen and when other firms, like CIMB, have also been cutting back.

Loh Boon Chye, head of Asia Pacific global markets and country executive for Singapore and southeast Asia at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has left the bank, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

A jump in green bond issuance and investment over the last few years has led to a group of high profile investors to call for the industry to develop global uniform standards. But with the buyside divided over how to classify green bonds and the need for more rules, progress is expected to be slow, writes Christina Khouri.

HKBN — Hong Kong Broadband Network — has delivered a strong boost for the city’s ECM market, pricing its HK$5.80bn ($748m) deal at the top of the range to become the largest IPO on the exchange so far this year. The absence of any sensitivity on pricing meant books were multiple times covered, making allocations very tricky and meaning that 25% of the investors went away empty handed.

India’s new budget brought mixed news for ECM bankers hoping for changes to tax rules for real estate investment trusts (Reits) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs). The government delivered much-needed clarity on some aspects of the tax regime, but big gaps still remain, with the stage not yet set to welcome the country’s first Reits, writes Rashmi Kumar.

Capital market illiquidity is becoming an ever more important issue for European ABS issuers, with an inverted Dutch RMBS curve pushing Obvion to abandon the typical two and five year structure for its latest Storm deal.

The government of Hong Kong is following up last September’s success with plans to issue a second sukuk this year, a $500m-$1bn three or five year deal. With the borrower opting for an asset-light wakala structure this time around, market participants say this could be the key for Hong Kong to fulfill its ambitions of becoming an Islamic finance hub, writes Rev Hui.

Thailand is inching towards releasing new rules allowing foreign companies to list on its stock exchange for the first time. Interest is already building among non-Thai issuers looking to tap the kingdom’s superior domestic liquidity and retail investor base, but market participants warn that a lot of work remains before the country becomes a hub for cross-border capital, writes John Loh.

The ijara structure Hong Kong adopted last year is the most commonly used by international issuers. Some $100.8bn of international sukuk with a maturity of at least one year and $500m in size have been issued since 2002, out of which $50.9bn were ijara sukuk.

Controversy-dogged 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is to update and resubmit a prospectus for the IPO of its energy arm to Securities Commission Malaysia, in one of the company’s first statements clarifying that a listing is being planned.

Malaysia’s state oil company Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) is gearing up to issue its first dollar sukuk in almost six years, having mandated five banks to run a series of roadshows in Asia, Europe and US.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) became the fourth non-Chinese bank to issue a Basel III tier two bond in the offshore renminbi (CNH) market. Although it wasn't able to tighten guidance, the Australian bank took advantage of favourable renminbi-dollar swap rates and managed to save cost.

Axis Bank successfully returned to the dollar market with a $250m tap to its existing 3.25% 2020s. The deal saw such strong demand that the issuer was able to scale up the size while pricing it slightly tighter than the original deal.

Lodha Developers has started taking orders for its maiden bond on Thursday, having postponed the trade from the end of last year after demand was lacklustre. The Indian borrower is taking no chances this time around and has launched with a much wider pricing level to woo investors.

There is no sign that the Formosa bond bandwagon is taking a break, with Macquarie pricing its debut renminbi-denominated bond in Taiwan, and Hana Bank adding another Korean name to the list of international issuers in the market. Macquarie’s deal also marked the first Australian issuer of a Formosa bond.

Investors poured into China Shanshui Cement Group’s $500m bond on March 4 as a more than eight times covered book helped the company end a three year hiatus from the market. But the strong reception was mostly the result of generous pricing, observers said.

Market participants have been buying significant amounts of bearish options on defensive stocks and funds, such as utilities, indicating that consumer sentiment is shifting from market recovery to expansion.

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Retail and institutional shareholders in OW Bunker are investigating expanding evidence surrounding the Danish oil bunkering firm’s ill-fated IPO, with a view to suing the firm’s private equity seller, Altor, and the banks and law firms that worked on the listing, including Morgan Stanley and Carnegie.

SEB and Carnegie are premarketing the IPO of Evolution Gaming Group, a company that provides ‘live casino’ online gambling, in which customers can interact online with live dealers through streamed video.

The wave of cash flowing into Europe's high yield market, ahead of the imminent launch of the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme, is set to create extreme conditions in the coming months.

NewDay Cards was able to place two more tranches of credit card ABS with investors on Wednesday than on its last outing, with its lead managers applying softer price guidance to the bottom of the stack.

Barclays, RBS and Standard Chartered have explained how they plan to meet new total loss absorbing capital (TLAC) rules — although the rules are not yet finalised and will not come into force until 2019.

One of the most striking traits of this year in equity capital markets has been the number of listings pulled last year succeeding second time round. This week, it continues as Aldermore looks set to achieve its IPO.

Indian Oil Corp’s (IOC) C$600m ($480.79m) North America targeted loan that launched into general in January has been allocated among six banks. While the deal drew liquidity from three lenders in retail syndication, bankers away from the deal stopped short of terming it a success, saying low pricing probably constrained the response.

Axis Bank has begun taking orders for a $200m tap to its existing 3.25% 2020s issued last year. While the deal is not driven by reverse enquiry, bankers were confident about going ahead as they had good visibility on what accounts would want to come into the trade.

Air India has taken flight for a $315m 15 month bridge via two mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners. The money will be used to finance new aircraft as the state-owned company looks to modernise its fleet.

Swedish truck maker Volvo Group has raked in Rp19.19bn ($310m) by selling some of its stake in Indian automobile manufacturer Eicher Motors via an overnight block trade that was wrapped up on the morning of March 4. Robust demand allowed the seller to offload far more shares than originally planned, as investors piled into a story they understood and liked.

BNP Paribas has become the third non-Chinese bank to issue a Basel III bond in the offshore renminbi (CNH) market. On the back of a big order book from high quality investors, not only was it able to increase the size but the new trade also came inside its dollar and euro tier two curves.

Melco Crown Entertainment plans to stop trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by the end of June, following an announcement earlier this year that it was de-listing from the exchange market due to poor trading volumes.

Investors are calling for more transparency and a uniform standard for green bonds as the sector experiences strong growth. But debate remains whether new rules with hinder or help the nascent asset class.

There are signs that the pace of RQFII quota approvals is picking up, even though the volume of quotas handed out is still lagging the pace seen until the fourth quarter of 2014. A tax bill of as much as $4bn could also spoil the RQFII party, but the Stock Connect could be set for a boost as European Ucits funds get the green light to participate.

New buyside entrants and portfolio managers are increasingly using options on futures as a way to keep margin costs down while generating tailored risk exposure, providing an effective alternative to over-the-counter swaps and futures strategies.

LCH.Clearnet’s global interest rate swap clearing platform, SwapClear, is launching a portfolio margining service that will enable its members and their clients to maximise their margin offsets between over-the-counter and listed interest rate derivatives. As a result of this, users will be able to more efficiently manage their collateral obligations.

Deutsche Bank is trading a £150m block of Glencore shares tonight for First Reserve, the energy-focused private equity firm. It is the first accelerated bookbuild since the minerals company’s 2011 IPO, which may explain the busy atmosphere on syndicate desks this evening.

Risk arbitrage traders, among others, are betting on continued upside in General Electric by buying medium and long dated call spreads on the back of a speculative corporate split off, according to strategists.

Several Azerbaijani banks are in discussions with lenders over loan refinancings, say bankers, with International Bank of Azerbaijan most likely to lead the way, after a steep devaluation of the manat.

Cembra Money Bank is set to print the first Swiss ABS to hit the market since the Swiss National Bank abandoned its franc-euro peg, having increased the revolving period for its third securitization of auto lease receivables.

Australia-listed Guildford Coal is looking into the possibility of listing on the Singapore Exchange, after a review of the company found that Asian shareholders represented over half of the company’s investor base.

Times Property Holdings printed a $280m five year non call three bond this week in what was only the fourth Chinese high yield property firm to tap the international market in 2015. Even though the amount raised was small, its significance is anything but. A recovery for the much maligned sector could finally be on the cards.

India’s union budget announcement over the weekend was bittersweet for ECM bankers hoping for positive changes to tax rules for real estate investment trusts (Reits) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs). While the government delivered some much-needed clarity on some aspects of the tax regime, big gaps still remain with the stage not yet set to welcome the country’s first Reits.

Malaysia has shortlisted banks for its return the international sukuk market after four years away, and bankers expect it to announce the final mandate soon, according GlobalCapital Asia's sister publication, the Islamic Finance Information Service.

Syndicated loans bankers have welcomed India’s 2015 budget, saying it set the stage for long term growth in the country. However, frustration remains that more was not done to tackle the problems dogging the country’s infrastructure sector.

India’s GMR Infrastructure, which at the end of last year sought approval from the country’s regulator to raise new equity, has now firmed up terms for its three-for-14 rights offering, which will see it raise a chunky Rp14.02bn ($227m).

Pakistan’s latest draft law on real estate investment trusts (Reits) is worrying industry participants, many of whom are calling the requirement for a perpetual lock-up of a Reit manager's stake inflexible and illogical. But the regulator is right to impose tough rules. Issuers and investors will gain from a market that has its eye on the long term.

Telecoms giant América Móvil is likely to tap reopen its existing títulos de crédito extranjero due 2024, according to Moody’s. The company completed investor meetings discussing a potential peso-denominated issue on Friday and could issue as soon as this week, according to bankers close to the trade.

Fitch downgraded Colombia’s largest private oil company Pacific Rubiales by one notch to BB and placed the rating on negative outlook on Monday. Prices in the company's bonds fell but bond traders said movement was minimal.

India’s largest residential property company Lodha Developers is looking to come to the market for its debut offshore bond, three months after it pulled the plug on what should have been its maiden issue.

There seems to be no end in sight for the Asian ECM bout of depression. Above all, it’s been a pretty miserable year so far for IPOs, in sharp contrast to new listings activity in other parts of the world. The reasons put forward by market observers to explain the dearth of offerings are several, but in the main remain unconvincing, writes Philippe Espinasse.

Boon Chye Loh, head of Asia Pacific global markets and country executive for Singapore and southeast Asia at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has left the bank, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

The latest proposals from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a coalition of five US prudential regulators could make trading uncleared swaps in the US costly and ineffective, driving business away from the country.

LedgerX, a bitcoin derivatives clearing house and exchange, has entered into a new partnership in a bid to expand the accuracy of its options pricing while increasing liquidity for bitcoin derivatives.

Overall interest rate derivatives trading that was reported to swap data repositories last week increased by 14% from the previous week, according to data from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.

Market participants have been picking up put spreads on the Australian dollar against the US dollar, however investors should be wary as the currency pair has the potential to fall lower than expected, according to FX strategists.

China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Development Group (CSSD) is eyeing the first renminbi bond from an issuer in the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), a China-Singapore joint venture area. But after more than a year of preparation, the deal faces two issues that have delayed its final launch, two sources have told GlobalRMB.

India’s Yes Bank is gearing up for a second green bond sale just days after issuing what became the country’s first green debt. On the back of strong demand, the bank was able to raise twice the amount it originally targeted and looks to lead the green financing the government is stepping up to encourage.

Singapore based real estate company Frasers Centrepoint launched a subordinated non call five Singapore dollar perpetual on the morning of March 2 as its seeks to refinance a multi-billion dollar loan. Market watchers are hoping the deal, which is the first Singapore denominated perpetual bond of 2015, will breathe some life into the Sing dollar market.

Joy City Property, which was acquired by Cofco Land Holdings in December last year, plans to raise up to HK$6.40bn ($825m) from a one-for-two rights offering, as it seeks to pay off the outstanding balance of the acquisition.

The management team of India’s VRL Logistics started meeting investors on Monday, March 2, for its listing on the country’s National and Bombay stock exchanges, in an IPO which will raise $60m to $70m from investors.

Thailand’s TMB Bank is set to end a nine year absence from the international bond market having started receiving bids for an offshore RMB (CNH) bond on March 2. If successful, TMB could become the first Thai issuer to print in the currency.

Privately-owned Indonesian palm oil producer Royal Industries launched its $500m dual tranche fundraising into general syndication on February 27. Interested banks have the option of joining offshore or onshore.

CNY swaps have been well offered in the wake of an interest rate cut at the weekend by the People's Bank of China (PBoC). But the 1s/2s swap curve spread has been bid on near-term disinversion bets, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company has opened books to its first international bond of 2015, having taken comfort in the fact that fixed income investors in five Asian cities view the Japanese credit with a safe haven status.

Chinese real estate company Times Property is back in the dollar bond market following a near one year absence, receiving bids for a five year non call three transaction that was already covered prior to launch on March 2.

Thailand’s Platinum Group commenced bookbuilding on Monday for its up to Bt5.25bn ($162.22m) IPO, with the wholesale mall operator expected to win over investors as both a play on consumer demand and tourism.

Café Coffee Day, often considered the Starbucks of India, is busy brewing plans for a listing on the country’s domestic stock market, via an IPO that could raise the coffee chain anywhere between $150m and $200m.

China plans to allow its corporates to issue renminbi bonds in jurisdictions all over the world to support their cross-border funding, an official at the People's Bank of China (PBoC) told a conference in Beijing.

02 Mar 2015

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